As for shooting himself in the foot, you may be right; but I don't think so. This wasn't a Chandler Riggs's father, Ron Perlman, or Joe Manganiello level of indignance, and he enveloped his description of his frustration within his initial excitement for his character and satisfaction with how Jesus was written out. If execs wanted him gone, I think it's more likely because his prior season's complaints about the lack of use of his character reached their ears. This interview for this article occurred well after the decision was made to write Jesus off.

Thats what I was referring to... from this article and others Iíve read about the situation it seems as if Tom wasnít secretive about his opinion of Jesusís lackluster characterization. although I think he should have every right to complain about what he thinks should or should not happen, I believe thatís one of the deciding factors to cut Jesus. especuallg after AMCís past track record for this type of thing.

Thats what I was referring to... from this article and others I’ve read about the situation it seems as if Tom wasn’t secretive about his opinion of Jesus’s lackluster characterization. although I think he should have every right to complain about what he thinks should or should not happen, I believe that’s one of the deciding factors to cut Jesus. especuallg after AMC’s past track record for this type of thing.

Well, they showed him, right? Corporate types need to limit their micromanaging to corporate underlings and stay away from the creative minds.

I don't blame him though. They expected a lot out of him for the little he was doing. Constantly training to almost never use it. His character never actually got his own storylines so he wasn't challenged as an actor. Most of the time he didn't appear at all but when he did it would just be a few lines here and there and then there is just the fact that he was stuck in Georgia waiting around just in case they needed him so he couldn't even take on roles when he wasn't working and I imagine he probably read the comics when he got the role and got excited when he saw what Jesus was going to do and it just never happened.

Just another character that got fukt over because of the Daryl problem.

I don't think "the Daryl problem" had anything to do with Jesus being underutilized. There were just too many characters competing for screen time. The Saviors were being introduced, Gregory was the leader of Hilltop so he demanded a lot of face time, and then Negan and Simon came on the scene. Two over-the-top characters that also required a lot of screen time in order for the audience to see how evil they actually were. Unlike the comics, where there were many pages to dedicate to Jesus the Warrior, the TV show is 40-some minutes per week (deducting time for commercials) and we were given story lines involving Tara, Carl, Negan, Sasha, Rick, Gabriel, Aaron, etc. There was not a whole lot of Daryl during that time.

I don't think "the Daryl problem" had anything to do with Jesus being underutilized. There were just too many characters competing for screen time. The Saviors were being introduced, Gregory was the leader of Hilltop so he demanded a lot of face time, and then Negan and Simon came on the scene. Two over-the-top characters that also required a lot of screen time in order for the audience to see how evil they actually were. Unlike the comics, where there were many pages to dedicate to Jesus the Warrior, the TV show is 40-some minutes per week (deducting time for commercials) and we were given story lines involving Tara, Carl, Negan, Sasha, Rick, Gabriel, Aaron, etc. There was not a whole lot of Daryl during that time.

I have to agree

This is one of the few times that Daryls character hasn't effected the show negatively

This is one of the few times that Daryls character hasn't effected the show negatively

Jesus is the Daryl of the comics. I'm not saying it's the only problem that has hurt Jesus but I would say of the issues it's still the one that hurt him the most because Jesus being a badass warrior was never a priority when they already had someone like that on the show.

Whether it be needing to give all the badass scenes to Daryl or just simply the fact that Daryl at some point became the co-lead of the show so they always had to find something for him to do which took time away from Jesus who is supposed to be shining right now. It hurt Dwight a lot too. It hurt a lot of characters.

The majority of the screen time was split between Rick, Negan and Daryl and that extra character makes a huge difference. Then the rest of the characters all had to share what ever little bit was left and once you start ranking them poor Jesus was barely given anything. This doesn't mean I'm blaming Norman Reedus for it. It's just that his character existing and not dying has hurt a lot of characters. In the comics what constantly made things interesting was killing off great characters and making room for new great characters. It was refreshing for Rick to constantly have a new right hand man but in the show we never had that once Daryl filled that role. That's why Abraham & Tyreese got fukt over so bad. Hell, even Glenn got hurt by it but not nearly as bad as the others. I think Jesus got it the worst though because he died without ever actually having a storyline. But it's not Norman's fault. It's Gimple's. He created the Daryl problem (along with AMC) and it doesn't help that Gimple did not like the Maggie character all that much and if Maggie was going to suffer so was Jesus as he was her right hand man but if you take Daryl out of it there would have been a lot more time to go around for everyone and other characters would allowed to be more badass. A perfect example of this was when Daryl took out the bikers with the rocket launcher. That 100% should have been Abraham. It seemed like it was meant for him in the writing too with him being the one to find it. But it felt very much like something was changed last minute where they decided it would be better if Daryl got it. There is only so much badassness to go around and when you have one character that's whole character is based around the fact that he's a badass and nothing more it makes it hard for anyone else to really do something cool. Rick couldn't even deliver his "We ARE the Walking Dead" speech in without Daryl chiming it. Negan couldn't even do the Lucille scene without Daryl having a moment in it. Hell, when Beth died it felt like it was more about him than Maggie. Same with Glenn. When Denise died it felt like it was more about him than Tara.

If Daryl could just take a step back every now and then it would be fine but they refuse for that to happen with him. They feel like they constantly always have to be doing something with him. Whether it's him being a badass or him being sad over someones death or him fighting with Rick all the time. The Daryl problem doesn't always mean stealing someones else's storyline. The Daryl problem is how Daryl's existence hurts the rest of the show. If 30% is Rick, 20% is Negan and 20% is Daryl and then you give another 20% that is split between the rest of your top tier characters like Morgan, Carol and Michonne then you are really left with just 10% to split between people like Dwight, Eugene, Maggie, Coral, Ezekiel and Jesus. Daryl shouldn't have been given his own 20% during The Saviors arc when it was already very Negan heavy as it was but there isn't really a way around giving Negan time in his own arc. Daryl has been on the show since S1 so they shouldn't always feel like they need to have him doing something. I get that the character is important to the TV series but during the Negan arc in particular it really should've mainly focused on Rick, Negan, Coral, Maggie (w/ Jesus) and Dwight. We didn't need to have the Daryl/Rick tension storyline at all. Since Daryl is going to continue to be on the show forever they can always revisit him later one when there is more time for a Daryl storyline.

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